Clinical Psychology
The Clinical Psychology section clusters diverse research themes within the field of psychopathology with one common focus: empirically-based studies directly inspired by clinical practice. The section works in close collaboration with mental health care clinics in the Netherlands, where participants for the studies are recruited and tested. Several members of the Clinical Psychology section combine their jobs as researchers with that of therapist at the Academic RIAGG Maastricht, in the anxiety, mood, personality disorders or children and adolescence programmes. This enables them to witness first-handed what the clinical field is most in want of and to set up studies that are of high importance and relevance to clinical practice.
The studies carried out in the Clinical Psychology section include both experimental laboratory and therapy-effectiveness studies. The research lines of the members of the section focus around four themes: personality disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders and developmental disorders. Examples of current research topics are cognitive models and treatment of borderline personality disorders and psychopathy (personality disorder group); social evaluation of social phobics and conditioning (anxiety disorder group); mechanisms of change and therapy-effectiveness of depression treatment (mood disorder group); and conduct disorders and moral development (developmental disorder group).
At present, the members of the Clinical Psychology section are either full or assistant professors, or PhD students. Since the staff is relatively young and enthusiastic, this group has a strong potential to grow.
Prof. Madelon Peters: "I feel privileged to work in a dynamic environment ..." >>